


Is it too Late to go Back?

by FireSoul



Series: FireSoul's Tumblr Prompts! [11]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Gen, Pep talks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-09-02 20:57:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16794619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireSoul/pseuds/FireSoul
Summary: The mastermind behind a recent string of robberies turns out to be the last person Barry ever expected, if only because he's supposed to be dead. But Leonard Snart is alive, which begs the question, what is he doing here?





	Is it too Late to go Back?

**Author's Note:**

> thegreatestoutsider asked for platonic Snart and Barry with he prompt "Mask"

Barry doesn’t believe it.

The robberies, the items stolen, the precision used in all of them, Joe had even compared it to the work of Leonard Snart before the cold gun. On a hunch that maybe there’s a copycat on the loose Barry went down to Saints and Sinners to see if maybe anyone there could think of someone who might have admired their old foe. He thought of Lisa, but she has her own way of doing things, and according to Cisco she moved out to Gotham after Snart’s death and is currently keeping her record clean. So he was expecting to get one of two answers from the bartender: either to go screw himself or a name of the next wanna-be criminal.

He wasn’t expecting the answer he’s been given.

“I’m sorry,” he gapes, leaning onto the surface of the counter even as the bartender glares at him with a stare that could kill. “I thought… isn’t Leonard Snart dead?”

“That’s what we all thought.” The burly man says with a shrug, crossing his arms over his chest. “It wasn’t weird to not see him for a few weeks, even months sometimes. But after three years of radio silence from him, his buddy, _and_ his sister we assumed maybe they all got locked up in a supermax or something. But he was here a few days ago, said something went down on a job, that was all he’d say.”

Barry takes a second to consider that, which the bartender uses to walk away. He doesn’t believe it, if he’s being honest, and even if he were to believe it it’s not like Snart is known for being easy to find. Still, if he’s robbing places he has to know it will attract attention, and after sacrificing himself to save everyone…

There’s one place he could check, just to see.

He speeds from the pub and comes to a stop in the living room of the safe house where Snart and Rory once held Cisco hostage. The place looks abandoned, dust on the stairway and the floors but… there should be more.

He hears a clanking sound from down the hall, the kitchen, and although he could race right in there in the blink of an eye he instead tiptoes as quietly as possible, cringing every time another floorboard creaks under him. He hears the sigh, and by the time he’s able to peer around the doorway Snart is already leaning with his back against the counter and staring him down, the fingers of one hand tapping impatiently on the surface.

The other arm… well, the other arm is gone.

“Snart?” He manages to ask; almost convinced he’s seeing a ghost.

“Took you long enough to find me, I was beginning to think I’d have to test out your home security again.”

“Uh…. How…” Barry doesn’t mean for is vague gesturing to be mostly directed towards the other man’s newly missing limb but… well it’s kind of hard to ignore.

Snart glances at his missing arm as though just noticing it’s gone, and then he shrugs.

“Probably something to do with the bomb.” He says, and then because this is Leonard Snart a teakettle whistles from the stove and he sets to work on fixing two mugs in the most casual way in the world. “All I know is one minute I had my hand on a time bomb, the next I was waking up in some random hospital in Star City with my arm gone and it’s 2019.”

Barry just gapes at him for a second, processing that, and he barely grabs the mug that he’s handed.

“Couldn’t the Waverider’s med bay fix that?” He knows Ray had mentioned their Gideon could regenerate limbs once.

But Snart just turns for a cabinet and starts pulling out sugar and honey.

“The Legends think I’m dead.”

“We can call them!” He offers, “We’ve figured out-” he stops when Snart turns and glares at him. He already thought of that, apparently. “How long… How long have you been back?”

At first Snart doesn’t answer. He just sighs, squeezes two drops of honey into his tea, stirs it around, and then takes a long sip.

“A few months,” he says, and Barry must look like he’s either judging or hurt because the look he gets has him biting his tongue even though there aren’t any words on it.

“Nurse seemed surprised when I asked for the year but apparently I’d been in rough shape when some random guy found me lying on the edge of a freeway, I think she attributed it to trauma. I was in the hospital less than a few hours when some guy with glasses came to talk to me, said he was with the government.” The look he gives at that, Barry can only imagine what look he gave this poor guy.

“I’ve dealt with enough government types to know this doofus was hiding something, then he started asking me these weird questions. Almost like-”

“Like he knew about time travel?”

Snart nods, a flicker of something that might have been hurt flashing through his eyes, and then he sets his mug down.

“I got him to talk,” he admits, “Wasn’t hard, he said his name was Gary and he worked for the Time Bureau. Long story short, he caught me up on everything I’ve missed. I made him swear he won’t tell the team I’m alive.”

“Why?” The question bursts from his mouth before he can even consider stopping it. Snart levels a glare with him as though saying he should already know, but he isn’t entirely convinced that Snart knows himself.

Otherwise he wouldn’t have gone back to knocking over museums.

“You can’t hide behind that mask forever you know.” He says, to which Snart crinkles his brow.

“What mask?”

“That mask.” Barry answers, gesturing to the scowling face before him. “Glaring and scowling. Captain Cold. You saved the world Snart; you freed every person who has ever lived from being puppets. You can’t go on pretending that this is you. You’re not a criminal.”

“I think the past few weeks of robberies says otherwise.” He tries to argue but Barry isn’t having it.

“You did that to get me here!” He exclaims, “You said it yourself, took me long enough to find you.”

“Well maybe I was lonely.”

Barry rolls his eyes; he can feel himself getting to the end of his rope with this argument already.

“Come on man. You want to go back to the Legends; I know you do. Rory’s found a place there, he’s happy; he’s a hero. He isn’t even the guy on your crew I thought had good in him, you were. If he’s found a place there then I can’t imagine you didn’t.”

For once Snart doesn’t come back with some snippy sarcasm. Instead he inhales a deep breath through his nose and then releases it, and even then he doesn’t talk straight away.

“Funny thing about places Barry,” he eventually says, clinking his spoon back into his tea. “They can be filled, and I’ve been gone for three years.”

Oh.

At first he only nods, the words hitting him like a truck. So much has changed in the past three years, with everyone. To be suddenly dropped into it all…

“They’ll take you back.” He finally assures Snart, finally taking a step out of the doorway and into the room. “You’re still a Legend.”

“Maybe,” Snart admits, his face thoughtful. “But you said it yourself, Mick’s found a place there. He’s happy. He’s a hero. He did all that without me there, because he didn’t have me constantly checking over his every move. I checked in on Lisa, not that she knows, but she’s OK. She’s on the straight and narrow, because for the first time in her life she doesn’t have somebody dragging her into a bank heist-”

“Snart-”

“And don’t think I didn’t make Gary spill about the rest of the Legends.” He just talks over the attempted interruption. “Most of the ones I knew are dead, or retired. The others… they’re fine. Sara’s dating Gary’s boss, Raymond’s still Raymond, and Mick… Like you said, he’s doing good for himself. The rest are all strangers to me, but they’re strangers who get along. Who am I to barge in there and ruin it all?”

Barry thinks on that for a second, processing it, and trying to think of something he can possibly say.

“You know Iris has a brother?” He ends up asking, nodding when Snart only raises a questioning eyebrow. “His name’s Wally. Her mom… her mom had been into drugs for a long time. Joe always told us she was dead but… she wasn’t. She left. When she left she was pregnant, Joe didn’t know. Anyway, a few weeks before you joined The Legends, the days after you warned me about Mardon and James Jesse actually, Wally showed up at our door. Things were good with everyone; our lives were fine. But we wanted him. It took some time to adjust, for us and for him, but now? I wouldn’t trade him for anything. None of us would.”

Snart actually looks like he’s considering that, so Barry takes the risk and steps even further into the small kitchen until he can place a hand on the other man’s shoulder, which shockingly doesn’t end in a broken wrist for him.

“Just go back, they’ll want you there, trust me.”

It’s a moment before Snart gives any sort of reaction, but after a long while he meet’s Barry’s gaze, and he nods.


End file.
